Benjamin Banneker

By Marvin Shumate

12/11/12

benjamin was born in 1731 and died in 1806

Benjamin Banneker grew up on the family farm Banneker's grandmother, taught him and his brothers to read,using her Bible as a lesson book. There was no school in the valley for theboys to attend.he constructed a working wooden clock that kept accuratetime and struck the hours for over 50 years.At age 58, Banneker began the study of astronomy and was soon predicting future solar and lunar eclipses.In 1791, Banneker was a technical assistant in thecalculating and first ever surveying of the Federal District which is Washington, D.C. Banneker died on Sunday October 9,1806 at the age of 74.a few memorial trace still exist in the Ellicott city,Oella and Maryland ,where Banneker spent his entire life except for the fedreral survey. it was not until the 1990s that the actual site of Banneker's home,which burned on the day of his burial,was determined.in 1980 the US postal service issued a postaged stamps in his honnor.